Left is all right with Cooper in Sox's bullpen

The left side of the Chicago White Sox's bullpen isn't expected to get much work this weekend because of the predominantly right-handed hitting Cubs' lineup.

But pitching coach Don Cooper was fired up about the progress made by left-handers Will Ohman, Matt Thornton and Chris Sale since the end of spring training.

"Ohman had a terrible last two weeks of spring training and a bad first week," Cooper said of Ohman, whose ERA dropped in June from 5.93 to 4.84. "But if you look at him, he’s been better and better each time. But with all the reporting on him made him look like he was a piece of (stuff). But he’s not, and we know his niche. Things seem to be straightening themselves out with him."

Cooper sees Thornton settling into a late-inning setup role after failing early as a closer.

"As well as he was not pitching as well as we’ve known him to do, we were unsettled in a lot of areas," Cooper said. "It didn’t work out for him. But he is still one of the better left handed relievers in either league. You don’t go from an All-Star (in 2010) to see you later. We knew he’d be better."

Cooper expressed patience with Sale, although the Sox drafted Sale in June of 2010 with every intention of rushing him to the majors.

"You got to be patient there," Cooper said. "This is the kid’s first full year in the big leagues, and I really like what he’s doing. I like where we’re headed with him. We got a plan with him , working on stuff and we’re putting in a foundation for the future. We’re not looking for short-term success. We’re looking for long-term success. When the organization feels it’s time for him to start, we’re going to have a leg up on all that because that’s what we’re doing now. We got a plan for him and what we’re doing for the future.

"By the way, you might have to get Adrian Gonzalez, but patience comes to mind when I think of Chris because it’s his first full year, his first spring traiing and a new role with relief that he’s never done full-time. It’s a luxury to have three lefties, And right now, I think we can count on all three, certainly against left-handed hitters. But we’re not looking for lefty-on-lefty, we want lefties to get lefties and righties out."